The Power of One
by xoASHxo
Summary: We all know how Piper, Pheobe, and Leo processed the first few weeks of Prue's death. But how did Prue process her own death, and the arrival of her baby half-sister to the Charmed lineage? This short-story was inspired by the five stages of grief and loss.


Part I: Denial

You'd think after three years of being a witch I'd be able to tell when time has been tampered with. When vivid memories become more than just deja vu. When life suddenly stops… frozen in time. The kind of frozen that Piper would never be able to undo. As a sister-witch, Piper couldn't freeze me.

But for the first time in my charmed life, I learned what it felt like to be frozen.

In the past three years, I've died twice - a potion which stopped my heart, and when a demon gutted me like I was a fish fresh out of water over the power to fly, which had been conveniently stolen by a genie and given to my sister Phoebe. But in those moments, there was always someone to bring me back to the land of the living. And just like that, I was back on my feet, ready to fight. The power inside of me burning brighter than the sun.

Facing Shax reminded me of what it felt like to have so much power inside of you, and still be helpless all at the same time.

That was something I hadn't felt since Andy died. When Andy died, the grandfather clock sang in his honor. I could hear it in my heart, though my body was unconscious at the time. I knew exactly where he was.

I looked over at the grandfather clock - it was singing. That was just the start of the many unnerving emotions that raced through my head as I tried to tell our innocent, Dr. Griffiths, what was going on. He didn't seem to grasp the situation.

"Hold it. I get it. This is a practical joke, right? Is there some kind of hidden camera somewhere? My ex-wife put you up to this? Oh, it's just like her." Dr. Griffiths's denial was flowing faster than the river. He paced nervously around the foyer, making both Piper and I nervous as well.

"Uh, okay. Dr. Griffith's, this is anything but a-" My body shivered out of nowhere, halting my train of thought.

Shivering was like a sixth sense for witches - in the sense that it alerted us to many things from demons to energy balls or danger. This shiver was loud and clear. Something was coming, and I had a pretty good guess on _who_ it was.

Piper noticed my hesitation. "What?" She asked.

How was I supposed to tell her that the demon currently chasing after Dr. Griffiths was about to attack? "Uh, I don't know. I just felt a chill-" The innocent and Piper were safe, but Phoebe was nowhere to be found. "Phoebe!" I shouted to try to find her. She didn't answer, worrying me even more. "Phoebe, you there?!" Damn her. Why isn't she answering?

Before either of us could react, our front doors swung open, letting in a swirl of grayish tinted winds that were rapidly approaching us. Piper and I exchanged a quick look of fear as the swirl of winds pushed us on the ground.

"Phoebe!" I yelled. "Phoebe, where are you?!" I had a second to ask myself why Phoebe wasn't home _knowing_ we had an innocent to protect and a demon to fight. It wasn't like her.

By second number two, the swirl of wind had materialized into Shax. "Dear God," I heard Dr. Griffiths say faintly, staring blankly into the eyes of his assassin.

In the third second, Shax's hand rested against his side and a wide, devilish grin spread across his face. He was about to kill Dr. Griffiths. "No!" I screamed in protest, my heart-rate racing ninety miles an hour at thought of another innocent dying. Without hesitation I got up and shoved Dr. Griffiths out of the way of Shax's blast, and never looked back.

I was never the one who took the time to think about what my actions would result in during battle. That was always Piper's job. She was the mediator between me and Phoebe, but also the moral compass between me and my subconscious. But there wasn't much she could do with three seconds.

By the fourth second, the forceful blast from Shax's hand threw me in mid-air.

The fifth second seemed to speed by me before I could even process it. I felt the impact of my body hitting the wall, but I couldn't process the pain because then I felt my back crack. I winced, then felt nothing. Nothing at all. I had lost total feeling in my legs before I even hit the ground.

The sixth second rolled in, and so did the pain in my head. Was my skull cracked too? I didn't know what else would explain my sudden loss of vision or why I could barely hear.

"Prue!" Piper called out to me. That was the last thing I could hear before my hearing followed my vision into silence. I could only assume my heart-rate was following behind them.

I knew I had been thrown through a wall and severely injured, but something inside of me knew Leo would be in time to heal my wounds. Piper would call for him and everything would work itself out. I just had to hold on a little bit longer so Leo could get here. I focused on keeping my heart beating just… a little bit… longer…

I opened my eyes, and saw Piper was standing directly in Shax's aim. "Piper, look out!" I pointed at Shax.

Piper turned her head, but Shax sent her flying through the same wall. I watched her fly into the wall, but when I looked down at Piper, I noticed my own body lying on the ground, blood trickling down my ear. My chest wasn't moving. My complexion was gone. That's when I realized it.

I was _dead_. Me pointing at Shax to tell Piper to look out was no use because I was a ghost. My body was floating down towards the ground, near my body, as if gravity were correcting itself so I could walk among the living. I looked down at Piper's wounds. They were _really bad._ She had more blood on her face than me, but yet I was the one pulling the Patrick Swayze routine. Leo was nowhere in sight. When I was finally able to walk, I knelt beside Piper.

"Piper, come on! Wake up!" I tried touching her hair even though I knew it was useless. My hand went straight through her head and into the floor of the sunroom.

Shax had been sadistically watching our bodies sink deeper and deeper towards the brink of death. It wasn't until Dr. Griffiths spoke to him that he peeled away from the gruesome scene of me and my sister.

"What are you?" He asked Shax shakily. I stood up and walked over to Shax.

"Don't you dare touch him, you evil bastard." I took the opportunity to see if Shax could hear, or even see, that I was in the room. He glanced over at me and gave me a smirk that I knew meant he understood every word I said. "You won't get away with this!" I shouted.

"The end," Shax told Dr. Griffiths in a dark, eerie voice that was enough to make me ill.

I turned my head and shut my eyes tightly, knowing that I was completely out of my league for what was to come. Flashbacks of Inspector Davidson's death emerged as I, once again, failed to save an innocent from death. One that I failed to protect. Shax looked at me as I gathered the strength to look up. Before my eyes could fully meet his, he'd whirled out of the manor, shutting the door behind him.

I ran back to Piper. "Piper, come on, come one. You can get up. Come on, just get up. You can do it." My voice was crackling with every syllable. I continued to try to hold her unconscious body, and each time my arms fell through her I screamed louder. This wasn't happening. I may have been dead, but I was _not_ letting her die with me.

I sobbed beside my sister and looked up at the ceiling. "How could you let this happen?" I asked the Elders angrily.

"They can't hear you, Prue."

I knew that voice. I turned around, still knelt beside Piper. "I'm not going anywhere until I know Piper is okay," I told him firmly.

Death didn't seem to care, as he held out his hand. "It is your time, Prue."

"Like hell," I replied. I stood up. "Is she on your list?"

"You know as well as I do I can't tell you that," Death said to me.

"Too bad. I'm not going anywhere with you until I know whether or not my sister will be joining me!"

Death's list materialized in his hands, and part of me was excited to know what the answer was. I waited for his answer, but just as he spoke, Leo orbed in alone. He saw us lying on the ground and proceeded to heal us. I looked up at Death.

"It's too late, isn't it?"

Death motioned me to look at my body. Leo - with regretful tears - held Piper's hand as she slowly came to, her injuries fading with his healing hand. My body was still battered and bloody. My ghostly body remained still.

"He was too late for me," I corrected myself.

"I was quite shocked to see your name appear on my list," Death said softly. "And if it's any consolation, your sister wasn't on my list. She was meant to be saved."

"Good," was all I could really say. "What now?" I asked quietly, watching Leo embracing Piper fully.

"Prue?" Piper asked, shaking my physical body. "Leo, heal her damn it!"

"I tried- I can't- Piper, she… she's gone, Piper," Leo said, stumbling on his thoughts. Piper cried into his chest and he held her. "I'm sorry. I tried."

"It's time to move on," Death said, asking for my hand.

I looked over to see Leo and Piper one last time, but Death had taken me somewhere else. It was faded and blue… dark. "What did you do? Where is my sister and my brother-in-law?"

"This is the ghostly plane," Death said.

I took in my surroundings. It was still the manor, but there was no one there. It was quiet, and naked. Until a familiar voice appeared.

"Hello Prue."

"Andy," I said with ease. He wrapped me in his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping you with this… the process." Andy continually looked at Death as if he was asking for help.

"I thought it would be helpful to have someone you care about here during this adjustment," Death said.

I held onto Andy's body and looked at Death. "I still don't understand it completely. I wasn't meant to die this young. I wanted a family. A husband! You, preferably," I looked at Andy, "but still… I had plans. A future. Why was it taken away from me?" I asked.

I looked at Death, hoping he'd have the answers I was desperately searching for. I didn't even realize that Andy and I were walking towards the front doors until a blue and white portal swirled in a continuous pattern as it opened.

"I only capture souls and move them to the afterlife. I have no control over the how's and why's, Prue." Death took my other hand without asking. Both men held onto me, and although every part of my soul wanted to rip away from their grips and go back to Piper and Leo, part of me wasn't moving. Part of me was allowing them to guide me closer to this portal of… whatever it was.

"What about Phoebe? She's still missing. She could be hurt or- or- or worse. Is she dead, too?"

"She is not."

"They're going to be okay, Prue, I promise." Andy gripped my hand tighter and stepped halfway into the portal. "Piper, Phoebe and Leo will survive, trust me." He tilted his head. "You do trust me, don't you?"

I smiled slight. "Of course I do, Andy. I just can't leave my family behind."

"You didn't leave them behind, Prue. You've done what you've needed to do. Now you're getting everything you wanted."

"And what would that be exactly?"

"The chance to find peace. Whatdaya say, Prue?" Andy held out his hand, and I pursed my lips. The thought of leaving Piper and Phoebe scared the hell right out of me, but knowing Andy, mom, Grams and the lives of fallen witches and friends were waiting for me gave me a feeling of completing. I was loved. Piper and Phoebe still had their individual powers. I could still watch over from above in the same way Grams and mom have been. I took a deep breath and smiled at Andy, taking his hand. I closed my eyes and walked through the portal. When I opened my eyes, mom and Grams were waiting with smiles on their faces.

"Welcome home, darling," Grams said to me.

"I've missed you so much, Prudence," mom said with a smile.

They both embraced me and for the first time in a long time, I had no fears. I felt not pain and whenever I thought of Piper or Phoebe, I knew deep in my heart that they were okay. The Power of Sisterhood will always be stronger than the Power of Three.


End file.
